


Smoke and Mirrors

by lemonclock (drayce_eightfold)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Ace max, Angst, Cults, Fluff, Genderfluid Neil, Highschool AU, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, Lesbian Nikki, Max lives on the streets, Mean Gays™, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Smoking, Suicidal Thoughts, Swearing, a lot of cult talk, david says things he shouldnt, foster parent au, idk if yall picked up on it but this is going down an angst hole, it got sadder, neil and nikki are so good for max
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-19 15:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11316126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drayce_eightfold/pseuds/lemonclock
Summary: Max has struggled through life for as long as he can remember; living with abusive parents to living on the streets of the city, he wouldn't know "home" if it hit him in the face. But its his junior year of high school, he can deal with it. It's not like someone is going to sweep in and save him from the hell he's let be his life.This fic updates every 5 days.





	1. Introductory Shenanigans

It was the first day of junior year, and Max was stood outside the school, leaning on a support column, waiting for the rest of the obnoxious student body to arrive. He hadn't slept in some bushes by the football field at all. Totally not. While putting himself near the school was less than ideal, he needed wifi to get his schedule and the library was pretty strict on their 30 day ban for "causing a scene." He just told a little kid who had seen Heathers that he wasn't black Jason Dean, and when the kid wouldn't shut up, he told them to fuck off. Cue the parents making a scene, not him, but whatever. The school had a library. 

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, glaring blankly at the freshman being dropped off early. The doors weren't even open yet, but parents were so insistent on see their demon children off to school that they would drop them off almost an hour early. Good for Max, because it meant he wasn't standing there looking intimidating for nothing. He took a drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke at a kid walking past him. They coughed and rushed past, not looking back. This was his way of establishing who he was to the newbies. 

A couple of white "gangsta" looking kids had begun to gather, trying to size him up in the coolness department. Really, they were just trying too hard. One of them pointed at him and grinned, right when a car rushed into the parking lot. 

"Slow the fuck down!" 

"I'm gonna push you out on the curb!"

"Nikki just park like a normal person!" 

"Hey, Max!" 

Max smiled as the red convertible rushed past, towards the student lot with no intent of slowing below 20 mph. He heard Neil start to cuss Nikki out as they began to walk back over. Nikki beamed when she saw Max smiling, causing him to scowl. She grinned even bigger, tuning out Neil. "Catch!" She threw a football at Max's face. His hand shot up and intercepted it, hitting it down as he took another puff from his cancer stick. He looked away from the two to avoid sending smoke into their faces, before nodding in acknowledgement.

"Max, tell Nikki that 20 is too fast to go in a parking lot!" Neil sauntered up behind Nikki. The brainiac had come out as genderfluid to the two of them before 10th grade, and made sure to tell them when his gender shifted. Today, Neil texted them to say she was a girl, and was smoothing out her skirt as she came to a stop by her friends. 

"Stop being such a sheep, Neil. It's fiiiiiine." Nikki countered, throwing her arm over her shoulders. "I have a license, so I know what I'm doing."

Max shrugged, before shooting a small smile at his nervous friend. "Looking good, Neil. Still impresses me how much you fucking rock skirts." 

Neil giggled nervously. "Heh, thanks, Max. I'm glad you two support me through this. It's hard enough to explain to people but you guys never told me I was confused or anything..." Neil was always like this on firsts. First day of camp, first day of school, you name it, and she became a nervous nerd. 

Unfortunately, then they heard some pubescent laughter. It sounded like choking hyenas, or freshmen. It was a distinctive sound that they all loathed. "Hey, freak show! Boys can't wear skirts, bitch!" 

Max could feel Neil's discomfort, it was radiating with his and Nikki's anger. Nikki looked at Max, and loudly asked, "Hey, Max! Did they ever find the kid who stabbed that guy?" 

"I don't think so, Ikk. It's not like that's a good description for the police to go off of." He got the message immediately. Intimidate before you attack.

"I know, right? Glowing green cat eyes and a dark trench coat, not likely to see that again, right?" She smirked slightly, and he did the same, looking at the freshman from the corner of his eye. 

"Plus the cigarette burns on his skin. That's about as likely as anyone challenging you to a bench-pressing competition in weights this year. What was it last year, 3 before they gave up?"

"4 actually. Freshmen boys get so freaked out when a girl can throw them over her head like no problem." She grinned, looking at them. "I'm sure none of them had any doubt after I picked up that car." 

At this point the freshmen were starting to back away, but Nikki grabbed the apparent ring leader by the collar and held him up while Max grabbed the other two. 

"Word of advice, kids, we don't tolerate hate speech around here. Even God can't help you if we hear you pulled anything, so I'd watch your back, or the football team is gonna take you to practice, and you'll be the ball." She let go of the kid, signaling for Max to do the same as they ran off. 

"I wish we didn't have to do shit like that." She sighed, putting her hand on Neil's shoulder as Max squinted at his cigarette. "I wish people would just accept each other. But no, now we gotta be the mean gays. I always feel bad for treating them the same way they treat us, but it's not like they don't deserve it." 

"Yeah, being the bad guy sucks, but I'm not stopping till every bigoted, racist, homophobic, antisemitic, etc, idiot on this godforsaken planet cries themselves to sleep like the rest of us." Max grumbled going back to smoking now that he was done tormenting freshmen. 

"I almost wish Nurf hadn't graduated..." Neil said, quietly. "He was such a good advocate for the destruction of gender norms and for idiots to shut the hell up about minorities they didn't know anything about." 

"That's why we continue his work. Because someone fucking has too. Come on, guys. I want to go see if Nerris is here yet. She's been vaguing being pan all summer and my lesbian ass is going to scream if she'll go on a date with me." Nikki marched off, Max and Neil trailing behind her.

This was already shaping up to be an interesting year, and the school hadn't even opened the doors yet.


	2. Sooner the bell rings, sooner it ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How bad can school get before class even starts? Pretty bad, but also pretty gay.

Nikki paced the sidewalks, vaguely smelling the air. A couple of obvious jocks gave her quick hi-fives and pats on the back, before frowning at the two trailing behind her. Neil looked away quickly, while Max glared back and blew smoke in their faces. The three meandered as Nikki walked closer to the teacher’s lot. “Gaydar tingling!”

Sure enough, Nikki stood up as they rounded the corner to see a girl with big glasses and a board game under her arm, likely for DnD club. Nikki ran up to Nerris, almost knocking her over. Some startled laughter and a hug later, and the two had gone to talking like friends. Max and Neil smiled at the ordeal, knowing good and well that at some point in middle school Nikki had started to get increasingly open with Nerris to the point where she couldn’t hide the slight blush on her cheeks around the girl by 9th grade. The crush never faded, and she was going to take a chance with her.

The two bystanders shared a common point of view on this; they both thought Nerris was cute. It was impossible not to, she was an adorable nerd whose eyes sparkled when complemented and had an immense respect for others. However, most of their thoughts on this were how cute Nikki and Nerris would be together. They had spent years hearing the jock gush over all the little things she loved about the sorceress. To see her finally talk to her was a refreshing miracle, though they knew she wouldn’t stop smiling for at least a week if they went on a date.

Nikki rubbed the back of her neck, smiling awkwardly with a growing blush. It was rare to see her this nervous. Still, Nerris thought a moment too long, causing the normally overconfident girl to second guess herself. But she smiled and nodded causing Nikki’s smile to reappear and her face to grow even more red. A couple more minutes of conversing and the bell rang, causing the ordeal to come to an end, but not before Nikki grabbed Nerris’s hand and placed a gentle kiss on it. The sorceress blushed and smiled, wishing her a good day and waving as she went inside. The jock made no indication of moving.

Max and Neil approached, taking note of how Nikki looked like a 12-year-old girl who had just shaken hands with Robert Pattinson. The silence was almost awkward, but Max flicked ash at Nikki to get her attention.  
“Well?” He asked.

“I am so fucking gay for her. And I think she’s gay for me too.” Nikki was beaming as she opened the door to let her friends in. Neil walked in as Max put out his cigarette with his fingers before following. The halls were already faced with chaos. Freshmen running around everywhere, and upperclassmen teaching them lessons. The trio navigated the halls, Nikki confident, Neil anxious, and Max looking a combination of dead inside and wishing he was dead. The trio came upon a gathering of seniors laughing in a circle. They learned exactly what this meant. Nikki strode up to them, pushing up her sleeves and pulling her sunglasses back over her eyes.

She tapped one of the boys on the shoulder, clearing her throat. They turned around, angrily before seeing Nikki standing there with her arms crossed and Max behind her looking like hell shot up a present for them in particular with eyes that a human should not have. Nikki waved for the boys to move, and they instantly spread out. “What’s going on here?” She questioned, looking at the boys.

“This kid thought he could make fun of Nerris for her game.”

Nikki stopped, pulling down her shades at the kid who they had cornered. “Let me handle him.” They all cleared the path to the scrawny kid against the wall. She stared at him, leaning down to read his expression. She glared a moment, before standing back up. “I’ll let you off with a warning because it’s the first day of school. But don’t make fun of my girl unless you want to be a dummy for the wrestling team.” She turned on her heel, and walked back to her friends.

“Wow Nikki, that was a lot more self-control than I expected from you,” Neil said as they all pulled out their schedules and began walking down the hallway again. “I have history first period with Mr. McPerson.”

“Are you fucking with me? What kind of name is that?” Max pulled his own schedule from a pocket on the inside of his coat and blew some white powder off the paper. Hopefully no one inhaled that. He squinted at the list before groaning. “Oh my god, me too. That is the fucking stupidest name for a teacher and I feel bad for whoever the fuck would give that name to anyone.”

Nikki pushed her sunglasses back on top of her head, reading her paper. “At least we’re in class together. Too bad it’s upstairs, though.”

The three of them began to walk up the stairs, avoiding crowds of confused freshmen running around like headless chickens. It was a sight, the chaos of the first day. No one knew what they were doing and were too afraid to do it alone, so they flocked. They would quickly learn that the pack could not save them, only they could save themselves.

Three flights of absolute chaos later, and the two emerged from the stairwell, where air circulation goes to die. The place was hell when class was in session; under the stairs being a popular place for kids to smoke. Not like the top floor was any better. It was always hot and the air was stagnant no matter what. Not like it mattered- most teachers wouldn’t give a shit if their students suffocated as long as they did their work. The trend of awful teachers they had in the past brought them to the conversation of what kind of teacher Mr. McPerson would be. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but that name screams boring, monotone old guy who grades papers like it’s a prison,” Max sneered, a fluff of hair falling in his face. He brushed it up quickly, trying to make himself look less like a homeless meth addict. He was only one of those things. 

“My bet’s on a strict, military teacher who makes you do pushups if you answer wrong.” Nikki grinned, throwing her long green braid over her shoulder. “What do you think, Neil?” 

“Pop-quiz giving grump who wants us to learn and only colour in the room is his navy blue tie, without a doubt. That’s such a generic name.” 

“So you agree with me, boring grump. Sorry, Ikk, you’re outvoted on the personality of Mister fucking McPerson.” Nikki booed the verdict, getting a shrug from the boy.

Max continued to mock the name, “Seriously, McPerson?” as they turned the corner, Neil stopping them at the room on their left. Max rolled his eyes and pushed open the door. Immediately the teacher began to talk. 

“Hello! My name is Mr. McPerson! I will be your first period teacher this year and show you the wonders of US History!”

Max glared up with his teal eyes, scowling at the teacher, before his eyes widened. “Are you. Fucking. Serious!?” He didn’t know what he expected. Some generic teacher, the kind of teacher who wears crazy ties every day, the kind of teacher that died halfway through a semester, or something, anything but this. Nikki’s laughter told him that she could sense his discomfort.

“Well, if it isn’t my three favorite campers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few hours late, but I hope you all don't mind. I've actually done some art for this au, and everything can be found at http://lemonclock.tumblr.com/tagged/lc-camp-camp-highschool-au 
> 
> There was a lot of debate on where this chapter should end, but we ultimately decided to split the timeframe between when the doors opened and class started into two, the second part also going with when class actually starts. It's for suspense, though I don't think it's too hard to figure it out. Though I did write it, so that's up to you. 
> 
> If you have any questions about the au, hit me up on tumblr! I'll also hang around the comments for a while.  
> Special thanks to yumesketchbook.tumblr.com for beta reading these! Love ya, babe <33


	3. What could go wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max, Neil, and Nikki face first period with snark, naps and gently supporting eachother.

“Oh. My fucking God,” Neil said eventually, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed when Nikki’s laughter died. “How the hell did you get hired to teach high school?” 

“Well, I applied and they liked my resume! It’ll be a nice change from Middle School, after all, you can’t find your comfort zone without stepping outside it!” David grinned, Picking up a clipboard with a smiley face on it. “I have a seating chart, let me find you three.” David walked along the middle isle, all desks facing the center of the room. He stopped by his desk, Tapping on the second desk back. “Max, you'll sit here. Nikki in front of him, Neil beside her. This is going to be so great! Maybe, since you all never appreciated camping, you can learn to appreciate history!”

“Jesus Christ, David, shut up about camping for once in your damn life. We’re here to learn about old white guys shooting each other over petty arguments, not to have fun.” Max spat the last word, leaning back in his seat and glaring at the colourful posters on the wall. “Seriously, this looks like a kindergarten from hell.” If David heard him, he was clearly ignoring it as he shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk.

Nikki poked Max in the shoulder, pointing at a poster that was covered in smiley face stickers that said ‘Don’t do drugs! They can ruin your perfect smile!’ She laughed, punching him in the arm. “Seems like a call-out to me.” The boy glared at her, ignoring the worksheet David was passing out. 

“I’m so excited to teach you all about the history of the United States and to learn about your histories! This is going to be a great way for me to learn about you all since you always were making a ruckus at camp.” 

“I still can’t fucking believe you are this goddamn excited about teaching high school juniors; the single most desensitized people on the planet.” 

“Max, Language,” David scolded, pulling cheap magic markers from a bin in preparation for the chorus of ‘I forgot’s that the first day brings.

“Suck a dick.” 

David ignored him, pulling up the introductory powerpoint as a few more kids began to enter the room. The display was overly bright, with ‘Mr McPerson’ written on it in comic sans of all things. Max put his head down when he heard the distinctive sound of a guitar against a wall being moved. There was nothing that could be done to cure the headache he had gotten from only a few minutes in the room, but at least it couldn’t get any worse. 

“I am going to kill this course! Or by God, shoot me with Aaron Burr’s pistol!” All three of them groaned, and Max began to hit his head on the desk. Of course Preston was in this class. The theatre nerd never grew out of the over dramatic nature that got him into so many situations at camp when they were younger. He was older than the three of them, failing any classes that he couldn't tie some show into constantly. So despite being a senior, he was placed with them in history. 

“Ah, Preston. It is so good to see you again!” David smiled at the boy, glancing at his clipboard. “Sit across from Nikki, please.” 

“David! You will be happy to know that I will ace this course, for I have seen Hamilton on Broadway. I know everything about our founding fathers!” Preston sat down, pulling out a folder with a collage of cast album art glued to the front of it. 

“If you were going to pass this class you should have done it last year, when you were a junior. It’s too bad that one of your precious theatre blocks is taken by a double history class.” Max didn’t even look up, he was so done with the whole ordeal. 

“If I must sacrifice time in the theatre to make it to broadway, then I am willing to wait for it!”

“I happen to love history, and I think you all will too once you see how interesting it can be!” David went back to telling students where to sit. Thankfully, no one else from camp was there. Max took the opportunity to look over the stupid ice breaker David had passed out. Generic questions like ‘what are your hobbies?’, ‘do you have a job?’, ‘how was your summer?’, etc. Generic, shit questions. He sighed, pulling a pen out from inside his hair. It was an advantage to floof. He had only started to fill it out when the bell rang and David began to speak. 

“Good morning, everyone! My name is Mr McPerson, and I am your US history teacher this year! Some of you already know me, and I’m so happy to see all of your faces again. Now, who wants to learn about the history of me?”

Although it wasn’t a question, Max still answered. “No one cares, David. I said it earlier, we’re here to learn about old guys shooting each other because they can’t agree on anything.” 

“Well, Max, not everyone here already knows me. But, yes that is a part of history! It’s always more than that; like did you know that South Africans gave gay and lesbian soldiers sex changes in an attempt to root out homosexuality in their army? History is full of interesting motives!” David seemed oblivious to how uncomfortable Nikki and Neil were at the fact and Max facepalmed. 

“Wow, that was really fucking insensitive; Nikki’s a lesbian and Neil is genderfluid. I would be uncomfortable right now if I didn’t already know that.” He glared at him, laying his head back down on the desk. His two friends looked back, Nikki giving his hand a ‘Thank You’ squeeze.

“I am so sorry! I wasn’t aware of that, I’ll be sure to watch what I say from now on. Regardless, I have a powerpoint!” David turned back to board, flipping through his life story as the class boredly stared. Max groaned when it came to the part about Camp Campbell. “That’s where i know some of you from, Camp Campbell! I started going there when I was a little boy, and now I work there in the summers! It’s such a great place, in fact,” He reached behind him, pulling out a guitar. “I happen to have a song I can sing-” 

“David I am going to throw myself out the window if you make me listen to your shitty song again.”

“Come on, Max, it’s got a good beat. You just hate it because it’s about camp.” Nikki looked back at him. 

“No, I hate it because I hate everything. We established this years ago.”

“Go ahead and play it David, I’m sure everyone else wants to hear it!” Nikki grinned. It’d been a long time since they had heard the song, and she was frankly looking forward to hearing it again. 

David smiled at her, checking the guitar was tuned. He counted off the beat, before strumming the opening chord. “There’s a place I know that’s tucked away…” his tone gradually became more enthusiastic as he continued to play, building up to the speed at which he began listing some of the activities. Nikki was having a blast, but Max looked ready to actually fling himself out the window. Max groaned, deciding to try to sleep through class to avoid having to hear David. He dozed off to the sound of his stupid, happy voice being stupidly happy about teaching. 

 

Max jolted awake, looking up to see Nikki smiling kinda unsurely. The slight pain in his shoulder told him that she hit him to get him up. “The fuck did I miss?”

“Well, Max, I was just going through the icebreaker worksheet, and asked about question 7, when I realized you hadn’t been participating! Now that you’re awake, please tell us what you put on the sheet!”

Number 7? He didn’t remember what that one was from when he glanced it over earlier. He pulled the crumpled paper out from under his arm, reading the list over. He read it over, his tongue feeling like a cinder block. 

7\. What’s your family like?

That explained the look Nikki was giving him. She and Neil had known for years; Neil even had Max on their phone plan so they could stay in touch, knowing his parents would never give any kind of luxury to the boy. Neil grabbed Max’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. They knew he would bullshit an answer, or avoid the question all together, but it wasn’t a pleasant thing to think about. He recomposed his bitterness before saying nonchalantly, “My parents were owl dealers, but when that market crashed they became clown hitmen.” It was a ridiculous, unbelievable answer, but it was an answer. David never said he had to tell the truth. He crossed his arms. “Can I go to the fucking bathroom? I’m going to throw up.” 

David frowned slightly, but handed him a hall pass with a smiley face on it. Max stretched as he made his way to the door. 

“What’s wrong, Jason Dean-lightful? Gotta go freeze your brain?” Preston mentally high-fived himself for the pun. 

Max looked at the drama kid. “I swear to god if you ever call me that again, I am personally going to throw you over the side of this fucking lifeboat.” He walked out, letting the door slam behind him as he walked to the stairwell, sitting down and pulling out a cigarette. He needed to calm down from even the notion of his family’s existence. He needed something stronger to really relax, but this would do for now. He lit the end, but didn’t smoke it so much as just watch it burn. The second hand was enough to kill him, anyways. He had been there for a few minutes by the time someone else sat beside him. 

Max stuck his cigarette in his mouth, pulling out another and handing it to the kid, not even looking at who it was. He didn’t know them, so it didn’t matter. “Rough first period?” The question was innocent enough. 

Max sighed, taking the cigarette back in his hand and blowing smoke towards the ceiling. “The part I was awake for fucking sucked.” 

“Tends to.” The kid pocketed the cancer stick, leaning back. “School sucks in general.” 

“You gonna smoke that or am I just giving handouts?” 

“I’ll save it for later. I’ll want it more by lunch, and second hand from you should be enough.” 

“Fair point.”

The two sat in silence after that, relaxing in the stairwell while slowly killing all of their cells. Max silently appreciated the company, because the kid didn’t want to know what happened, and Max didn’t want to know shit about them either. It was the kind of thing he could get used to, mutual bitterness at everything in the stairwell while they gradually let their lives slip away from them. And it was so much better than class would be. Max flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette, looking at the kid, who was chilling and seemingly asleep. He noticed a bruise on their cheek, covered unevenly with makeup. Max grimaced, looking away. He handed the kid another cigarette, not looking back. 

“Take another, that way you don’t kill yourself by the time we get to lunch.” 

“Thanks, dude.” 

“No problem.” Max looked at his own, completely aware that the kid put that one in their pocket as well. He didn’t really care, but was confused by how calm they were. “I can see it, by the way. Try to blend a yellow based concealer over it before you put on makeup that matches your skintone. Looks more natural and combats the blueness.” 

“Thanks.” 

“No problem. If you need help with anything, let me know. I’ve got years of experience with shit like that.” 

They didn’t answer, just stood up, waving a small goodbye before leaving the stairwell. Max looked back ahead, before flicking his smoke to the ground and stepping on it to put it out. He stretched and picked up the pass, taking a moment before leaving himself. 

He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoo boy this one is longer than the other two. 
> 
> big thanks to weith_keith on here /yumesektchbook on tumblr for helping me out. youre a blessing and I love you and im very very gay for you. 
> 
> I am also going to be making the list of established facts avaliable by the end of the week probably? this is the part where we start having to go in different dirrections with the story, as they cant have every class together. there's a lot of exploring the characters and interactions coming up, so stay tuned for that. 
> 
> As always, please check out my work at http://lemonclock.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> its 1 am time for bed


	4. Everything Goes Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oops it's sadder.

Max got back to class with about 10 minutes before the bell. He sighed grumpily as he stood in front of the door, pulling it open. When he saw the class, he lost it. In the 16 minutes he was gone, the class went nuts. Nikki had formed a tower of desks, standing on one and laughing maniacally. Preston was hiding under a desk in the corner, as a kid launched paper wasps at him. Another kid was sitting on two desks stacked on top of each other, all of them covered in fidget spinners as Neil defended the Smartboard from the hell that was occurring. David looked incredibly overwhelmed, trying to control everyone at once. Max grinned, walking up to the teacher with a cocky laugh. 

“Well, David, you’ve been a highschool teacher for less than an hour, and you’ve already lost control. Good job, you’re somehow an even worse teacher than camp counselor. And this is only first period!” David didn’t look at Max, but it was clear he was upset. Being David, he genuinely wanted to show them that school could be fun. Max had learned this with the sparrow incident back at camp all those years ago. When David didn’t even respond, Max rolled his eyes, and began to make rounds. He grabbed Nikki’s arm, sure that she had started the chaos. She looked down at him, worry glancing in her eyes after what happened earlier. “Nik, cut the shit and take down the fucking dicktower.”

“Aww, Max,” She whined, before getting down and starting to put the desks back. Max rolled his eyes, before swatting a paper wasp out of the air, glaring at the kid who shot it. The kid backed down when Max pulled out a rubber band and shot the paper back. He pushed the kid who was sitting with the spinners down, brushing them off and setting the desks back down. 

“You all are fucking children. Half of us are going to be legal adults in a year, get your shit together!” He flipped them all off before walking towards David. David opened his mouth to speak, but Max glared up at him. “Do not read into this or I am going to hit you with a school bus.” He walked to his seat, picking up the paper and pen. He crumpled the worksheet up and threw it on David’s desk, not caring the half-hearted answers he filled out before class started would be available to the man. He pushed the pen into his hair, checking it was secure before sulking over to the door. Nikki flipped over the last desk before following, grabbing Neil by the arm as she walked past. They pulled out of the jock’s grasp, grabbing a notepad and pen from the floor before going to join the two by the door. The class was settling back down as the bell rang. 

“Goodbye, everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic first day!” David called, pulling out his clipboard in preparation for the next class. He frowned when he saw the crumpled paper on his desk, picking it up and smoothing it out as best he could. He skimmed the answers, before folding it up and tucking it into a drawer with a sigh. He looked down at his desk, pulling out a sheet of torn paper that had been taped back together in multiple places. With a smile, he placed it in an empty spot, scanning the words before going back to seat the next round of students. If he had learned anything over years and years of being camp counselor, it was what he wrote on that paper years ago. 

Max + Positivity = success. 

\---- 

The three realized when they compared their schedules that they had no other classes together until after lunch, but they still tried to plan routes so none of them would be in the halls alone. After some discussion and wandering, Nikki ran to gym with a salute, kicking open the door and being pulled into the room by some jocks. Max stayed with Neil until they got to their class, before wandering off to his own. 

The three didn’t see each other until their lunch hour; Neil and Nikki waited about 20 minutes in the courtyard before Max strolled in, foam lunch tray in hand. He sat at the picnic table, sliding the food over to Nikki before laying his head down. She reached for the tray, pulling it towards her while looking at Max. Neil dug in their bag, handing a pop tart to Max, who grumbled words of thanks. 

“Rough day?” Nikki asked, shoving an entire egg into her mouth. The short boy looked up at her, not moving. 

“The fucking worst, it’s not even goddamn 6th period yet, and the fucking orchestra teacher sent me to the office because I hit a kid with my bow. In my own fucking defense, the kid went off on me about how Nikki defends us both and how I stuck up for David in history or whatever.” 

“Which kid was it?” Neil asked, poking at their salad. 

“Paper wasps.” Max grumbled, digging in one of the inner pockets of his trenchcoat and pulling out a wad of cash. He began to count it out onto the table, mumbling the numbers before counting out $60 and putting the stacks into different binder clips. He returned them to his pocket, resting his head in his hands. 

“Figures. He seemed like a dick. What chair are you this year?” Nikki dipped a ‘chicken’ nugget into ketchup. 

“Take a guess. She’s going to put me in 1st and then proceed to yell at me for being a bad example or whatever like last year. The question is if she puts me on cello or violin.” 

“Your fault for learning two instruments.” Neil chuckled, their phone going off. They pulled it out, groaning and putting it face down. “My mom is trying to get me to go to the synagogue with her this weekend. I’m not driving 3 hours to go to her house and another 2 to get to the one she goes to when there's one in the city. If she want’s to see me so badly she should just come here. I’ve only been with my dad for a week and she already wants to see me.” 

“I dunno, Neil, she is your mom. Not saying you owe her anything, but you are kinda manipulative with the whole ‘making her buy back my love’ thing.” Nikki leaned over and plucked a crouton from their salad. 

“Neil doesn’t owe shit to their mom,” Max spat, picking the sprinkles off the poptart. He was looking uncomfortable. 

“She does shit to me all the time! She constantly badgers me to do things with her, and she yells at me whenever I wear makeup or skirts in public! Then she acts like it’s all fine and fucking dandy to act like I’m her perfect little science boy, it's like she doesn't even care about what I think about how selfish she is-” 

Max stood up, slamming his hands on the table. “At least your mom fucking cares that you’re alive.” He turned away, pulling at his sleeves as he walked off. He tried to hold himself steady as he stormed off to the other side of the yard to a tree, punching it a few times before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Neil and Nikki watched this happen, neither of them making a move to stop him. After a few minutes of smoking and punching, he sighed and walked back over, flipping off a kid who threw a can at him. 

After he sat back down, Neil apologized. “Sorry, Max. I wasn’t thinking.” 

“It’s fine, Neil. I’m just still pissed off.” 

“Maybe you should come to practice with me tonight. You can just sit on the sidelines and chill till we’re done, watch me plow some freshies, the usual.” Nikki stole another crouton from Neil. 

“I’ll join you guys, maybe my dad will let you spend the night, Max.” Neil rolled their eyes and pushed the rest of the bowl toward Nikki, who dug into it quickly. “I heard that a cult’s started to surface in the city, and you really don’t want to be out on the streets if they’re looking for sacrifices.” 

“Whatever. If I die, I die. Not gonna change the fact that anyone like that is insane and that the sight of Kool-aid makes me sick to my stomach.” Max shrugged, taking a bite out of the processed sugar hell that Neil had given him.

“Well, if it isn’t my three favorite juniors!” 

Max choked, taking a moment to swallow before glaring up at David. “Jesus fucking christ, David! You’re as bad as fucking Daniel with sneaking up on people now!” 

David frowned slightly at this before smiling again. “Language, Max. I just thought I’d see how the first half of your day was!” 

“It was shit,” Max said, sliding the keyboard out of his phone and reading a message. He typed a response, squinting at the tiny keys. 

“Neil mommy issues,” Nikki blurted out, throwing the rest of Max’s school lunch into the salad and stuffing her face. 

“Nikki!” 

“I cannot tell a lie.” she feigned innocence with a mouth full of food. 

“I am going to poison your food I swear to god.” 

David put a hand on Nikki and Neil’s shoulders. “Now, kids, let’s not fight. All problems can be solved with communication!”

Max facepalmed, shutting the keyboard on his dated phone. “David, we’re not little kids anymore. We know each other's limits.” 

“Well, that doesn’t mean that it’s not good to check what you say. As I recall, you just walked off because they said something that upset you.” David looked worryingly at Max, who was staring at the table, visibly processing the information. 

After a pause, he glared; still avoiding the worried glances of his friends and teacher. “How much did you hear, David?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly listening-” David was getting more worried as he saw Max’s reaction. 

“How much did you fucking hear!?” 

“I heard you talking about your mothers-” 

Max stood up, watching the ground as emotions swirled in his eyes. He walked off silently, flipping his phone open and shut idly as he went towards the door to go back into the school. They waited until he had gone inside before speaking. 

“David, what the fuck?” Neil slid the container lid over towards Nikki. “He meant it when we say we know each other's limits.”

“Yeah, David. Do you know how hard it is to get Max to open up about things? He’s going to kill you for prying.” Nikki and Neil’s phones both went off, Neil pulling theirs out as Nikki packed up the food. 

“Nik, we gotta go. Code wafflecone.” 

Nikki looked up as she shoved everything into her sports bag. “Are you sure? A wafflecone?” David opened his mouth to ask what a wafflecone meant, but decided against it. 

“Yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t just joke about that. We gotta find him.”

Nikki looked at her phone, reading off a text. “My quarterback said he saw Max go into the upstairs bathrooms by the smoke stairwell. I’m telling him to guard the door till we get up there.” She typed away, standing up and jogging into the building, Neil on her tail. 

\---- 

Max sat against the wall of the handicapped stall in the bathroom, trench coat discarded next to him. In front of him lay a boxcutter, lighter, and a pack of cigarettes. He heard talking outside the room, and hugged his knees, picking up the boxcutter. He heard the door open and two sets of footsteps before Nikki broke the stall lock with carefully angled kicks and charged in, Neil in tow. Nikki carefully pried the object from his hand, getting no protest from the short boy. Neil sat down beside him, sliding the cigarettes and lighter away. 

Max wiped the forming tears from his eyes. “I fucking miss my mom, god why do I miss her? My parents are the goddamn scum of the earth and I still miss them.” He reached for Nikki’s hand, trying to take the boxcutter from her. After some struggle, he finally got it. “It’s fucked up that just hearing about other people’s moms is enough to make me miss her. She wanted me dead. She never gave a fuck about whether I threw myself out the apartment window or if I starved to death; but I still fucking miss her.” 

Nikki reached back for the item, but Max was already pulling at his sleeve and poking at his arm with it. She could feel the anger in his voice; both at his mother and himself. She grabbed his shoulder firmly. “Max, breathe.” 

“I keep thinking, if I go back, then I’ll at least have a fucking roof over my head! I’ll at least have a bed and a place where I at least know what’s trying to kill me!” 

“Max, you’re hyperventilating.” Neil put their hand on his. 

“But what if I want to die? What if my entire existence is a big fucking mistake-” Tears rolled down his cheeks as he fiddled with the slider on the boxcutter. 

“Max.” 

“What if I fucking deserve to be beaten and left for dead by my parents?” 

“Max,” Neil squeezed his hand, trying to stimulate him from the panic attack before he did anything.

“What if I wasn’t meant to live? What if they’re right? I’m a stupid, mindless-” He slid the blade out. “-emotionless, inhuman fuckup. What if they’re right? What if I deserve it?” Neil and Nikki shared a look, before turning their attention back to Max, who was threatening his arm with the blade. Nikki reached for it, being careful not to startle him. 

“What if I fucking deserve to die?” He gritted his teeth, sticking the blade in his arm unconsciously. The pain of it didn’t kick in, but Nikki still ripped it away and threw it out of the stall. She tightly wrapped her hand around his arm, before biting her lip and slapping him. He froze, tears still rolling as his two friends pulled him into a hug. He shut his eyes once the shock wore off, leaning into it. 

Neil rubbed his back, shushing him as they did so. “It’s okay, Max. Breathe. We’re here.” 

“I’m scared.” 

“We know.” 

“I don’t want to be alone.

“We know.” 

The trio stayed like that, cradling Max in their arms for a good while, unaware of when the bell rang for class nearly ten minutes ago. They didn’t care if they were late, this was more important. 

“I love you guys.” 

The words were quiet as Max mumbled them into the fabric of Nikki’s jacket, but they caught the two off guard. Neil and Nikki paused before smiling softly. The taller spoke eventually.

“We love you too, Max.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo was this a ride to write. We're getting to the part where David starts to realize things about these three. Did I mention that I made it sadder? Did I mention that next chapter is going to be worse? (Did I mention that theres some cleverly wrapped foreshadowing?)
> 
> Since this fic is picking up steam, there may be some schedual changes coming soon when I am done with the production I am currently in. Ch 5 is pretty much written, and depending on how that ends up we will start with time skips because school is never really that exciting for too long. Seriously. 
> 
> I'm also mapping in a doc how these events will work in real time. Ch 4 isn't done yet in terms of that log, but the established facts doc has been updated; and will be released on my tumblr, http://lemonclock.tumblr.com/


	5. Everything Stays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikki and Neil discover something Max didn't want them to.

After Max had time to calm down, he pulled away from the hug and slumped against the bathroom wall. He wiped the remaining tears from his face, looking at the floor as his friends sat down with him. 

“Max, can you take off your hoodie?” Nikki’s voice was soft as she slid over to grab the boxcutter she had thrown earlier. 

“Why?” Max’s tone was defensive and sharp as he glared up at her. 

“I want to see your arms. You were gone for 3 minutes before you texted and it took us 4 to get to you. I need to see your arms.” 

Max was silent, avoiding his friends’ gazes as he thought. “...Fine.” He pulled off his hoodie, throwing it to the tile beside him. He felt awkward in just a t-shirt. The hoodies had become a security blanket over the years of hiding himself. Neil and Nikki had seen him in short sleeves before, but it still made him uncomfortable as he scratched at old scars on his neck. Nikki carefully grabbed his arm, finding where he stabbed himself earlier and reaching for her bag. After some idle digging, she pulled out a first aid kit and got out a box of band aids. 

She surveyed his arms, bandaging anything she deemed necessary as Neil did the same to his other arm. Nikki stopped when she got to his shoulder, pushing up his sleeve and looking at the scar that she had seen dozens of times before. 

“You shouldn’t have let this get infected. It’s still not faded.” She lightly traced the shape. Max flinched at the touch. 

“What the fuck was I supposed to do? Tell David that, oh, by the way, I stole Daniel’s stupid sacrificial knife and stabbed a pentagram into my arm? It’s been six fucking years, if it hasn’t gone away by now it’s not going to.”

“Tell us? Gwen? At least she would have tried to fucking help you take care of it and wouldn’t have told David if you asked her to,” Neil said as they put one last bandaid on Max’s arm. 

“Yeah, like I knew I could trust you guys. We were ten. If I wasn’t traumatized already that whole incident would have fucked me up permanently.” 

“Last time you saw purple kool-aid you threw up,” Nikki pointed out, pulling Max’s arm back to her and studying the crude pentagram. 

“I only got a little fucked up from it,” Max countered, no longer fighting her as she poked at it. They continued their banter over how badly the event effected Max and the effects of kool-aid on the body, unaware of how Neil had fallen silent. The conversation continued until Neil gently touched the side of Max’s neck, right under his chin. He froze at the touch.

“Max… what did you do?” 

Nikki looked at where Neil’s finger was, her mouth going dry at the sight of a fairly recent rope burn. She looked around, finding it went in a ring around the front of his neck. She felt tears prick her eyes as she processed it, running her fingertips over the area. Max didn’t say anything, but the uncomfortable silence was enough of an answer. 

“When did you do this? Why didn’t you tell us?” She cried, pulling the first aid kit onto her lap and digging in it. “Max, what happened? Why would you-” 

“It’s called depression, Nikki. I’m so fucking tired.” He sounded dejected, not sharp like he did moments before.

“So you didn’t even think to tell us that you were going to hang yourself!? We could have helped you. You know Neil and I would have dropped everything to be with you.”

“I know.” 

She pulled him into her arms, trying to distract from the fact that she was crying. “We’ll always be here for you as long as you let us, Max.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is, it’s not like I haven’t tried this before.”

“Yes, but you haven’t done anything like this since you were living with them. So why now? What caused it? We need to know so we can help you.” Neil grabbed Max’s coat and draped it over his shoulders to try to provide comfort. 

“I don’t fucking know! It’s not like I can think clearly when I impulsively decide I’m going to sleep forever. I’m broken in so many fucking ways that I can’t even comprehend. I’m just so damn tired.” He sighed, pulling the coat closer to him. 

“You could have died.”

“I want to.” 

“You don’t deserve any of this.” 

“Debatable.” 

“Max, please tell us when you need help. You’re lucky that no one's seen this earlier.” 

“It’s kinda why I’ve been keeping the collar up on my coat all day. Helps distract from it.” 

Nikki sighed, pulling out gauze and a roll of fabric bandages. She pushed Max’s head up to get a better look. She pressed the gauze over the worst of it, gesturing for Neil to hold it in place. They complied as Nikki wrapped the fabric around Max’s neck as best she could. She ripped the fabric, taping the end to what had already been done with medical tape. 

“I can take care of myself,” he sneered uncomfortably as they took care if the burns. “I don't need to be babied.” 

“You can take care of yourself, but you won’t. That’s why we have to.”

“You don’t have to. If I were you I would have given up on me by now.” 

“Stop talking like that!” Nikki slammed her hands on the tile. “You keep talking like we don’t care about you, because you don’t think anyone can care. But you’re so fucking wrong. We will fight for you. We have fought for you! Just because you can’t love yourself doesnt mean we cant love you.” She grabbed Max’s hands, Neil wrapping their arms around him. “We care about you. We are your family, and we always will be; because someone fucking has to.” 

“You keep talking like I don’t know this already! Having two people who somehow care about you, even though you’re the fucking scum of the earth, doesn’t automatically cure years of trauma and abuse! Having people who will hug you when you’re losing it isn’t going to make me want to stab myself in the chest any less, it just gives me another day to try to get my shit together.” 

“Max, you need professional help. I know you know that and I know you won’t do shit, but you need help. You’re in pieces and the fact that you know that you’re going to try this again and don’t even care just tells me how badly you need help that Nikki and I can’t give you.” Neil laid their head on Max’s shoulder, pulling the edge of his coat and wrapping it partially around their shoulder. 

Nikki shut the lid of the first aid kit, sliding to sit on the other side of him, wrapping her arms around his torso and leaning against him. She sighed, curling closer to him. “We care about you, but you have to let us help you.” Max didn’t reply, but didn’t protest the platonic cuddles he was receiving. “If you leave us then we’d be a comedy duo instead of a comedy trio, and that’s no fun. We need a Bo Burnham to our Samantha Bee and Michael Carbonaro.” He rolled his eyes, leaning into the cuddles as Nikki let out an excited gasp and dug in her bag, pulling out a small instrument case and set it in his lap. 

“The fuck is that?”

“A ukulele.” She curled back into his side. “I want to hear you play something other than a classical instrument.”   
“What do you want me to play?” He took it out of the case, strumming it and messing with the tuning knobs.

“I dunno. A song.” 

“That’s vague,” He rolled his eyes, but began playing some messy cords. “This is going to fucking suck.” 

“Max, All Star isn't a song.”

“Fuck you, Nik. Fuck you and everything you stand for.” He continued to play sloppily. “I have no idea how the fuck to play this thing, by the way. This is definitely not the right key.”

“Nerd!” She laughed, punching Max and Neil in the arm.

“Jock!” Max sneered back, angrily strumming a note and stopping the vibration. He glared at her, the room silent for a few minutes before Neil and her burst out laughing, Max smiling subtly after a moment. “You’re both fucking dorks.”

“Says the one who played All Star entirely improvised.” 

“You’re the one who owns a ukelele.” Neil pointed out, getting a laugh from Nikki. 

“Excuse me, which one of us defended the smartboard in first period?” 

The three continued down with the banter, poking fun at each other and laughing, Max eventually falling suit to it as sixth period came close to ending. Sure, they all skipped, but nothing was better than this. Aside from that, who knows what Max would have done without them there by his side. They were all grateful for this, even if they had a hard time showing it. 

Eventually, Max sighed as Neil and Nikki calmed down. He looked at the wall, expression neutral. “We should go to class.” 

“Are you sure you’re up for it?” Neil looked over as Max nonchalantly shut his eyes. “We can stay as long as you want.” 

“Yeah, can’t hide forever. People are gonna start saying things more than they already do if none of us are seen for a solid hour.” 

“Nothing we haven’t done before,” Nikki pointed out, putting the ukulele back in her bag. 

“First day of school, Nik. Gotta make some kind of impression on teachers and you can’t really do that if you don’t show up.”   
“Fair enough.” Neil stood, picking up the forgotten lighter and cigarettes from the floor and handing them to Max, who pulled on his hoodie and coat on, before standing up and stretching. 

“Maaaaaaaax. Help me uuuuuuup,” Nikki groaned, crumpling to the floor. “My legs aren’t workiiiiiiing.” 

“Oh hell no, you’re a fucking linebacker, you can move your own damn legs.”

“But Maaaaaaaax,” She whined. 

“No.”

“Pleeeaaaaase?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He held his hand out for her, which she held onto and jumped up, not actually using him for support. 

“Let us go onward to class!” She yelled, grabbing her bag and kicking open the bathroom door. Max rolled his eyes, still smiling. He held the door open for Neil. Frowning as soon as he entered the hallway. It was so quiet in the bathroom, but now he had to go and fact seventh period, groaning audibly when the bell rang to change classes. 

At least he had people he could count on if he needed them.


	6. Violinist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil and Nikki try to protect Max from himself, and David sees something he was never meant to see.

At the end of the day, Neil and Nikki met up at the end of the day by the gym, Neil redoing Nikki’s braid before the football meet later in the day as they waited for Max. The girl was going off about gym and weight training and suplexing the first freshman to tell her she couldn’t be linebacker. She demonstrated how much she could lift by picking up Max as he tried to sneak past them undetected. 

“See, it’s no big deal if I get tackled, I can just throw them off of me!”

“Put me the fuck down, Nikki!” Max snapped, more aggressively than usual.

“Hey... were you trying to sneak past us?”

“No, I was trying to parkour over the cracks between the tiles.” He rolled his eyes, glaring at the girl who was restraining him. 

“Max, we aren’t letting you out of our sights after what happened earlier.” Neil wrapped an elastic at the end of the braid, putting their hands on their hips. “I’ve already talked to my dad, you’re spending the night.”

“I have to go do some performances; my permit is going to run out soon and I don’t have enough money for a new one and school supplies. I’ve already got to deliver some shit for a crime lord to get my fucking medication, I have to renew my permit, and I’m not losing the fountain to that fucking mime again.” Max squirmed out of Nikki’s grasp.

“Max, if you’re going to sell drugs-”

“Nik, I’m passed that. Mostly. That was an emergency so I could get my damned violin fixed.”

“Okay, Max, just…” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Stay safe. I’ll ditch practice if you need us.” 

 

“Thanks, guys.” Max turned around to leave, but was stopped by Neil. 

“Max, if you try to pull another disappearing act, I swear to god I will bug your phone.”

Max pushed his friend aside. “Sorry, didn’t know you were my fucking mother.”

Neil staggered back, Nikki gently putting her hand on their shoulder. Max pulled his coat closer to him, pushing the door open angrily as he left the building. 

“What… just happened?” Neil didn’t look at Nikki as they turned around and walked into the gym. 

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to apologize to him later.” Neil looked back towards the door, shaking their head a moment before following Nikki inside. They both knew that Max bottled things up a lot, keeping them inside until he burst. Knowing this, they also knew that trying to force him to talk to them would only make it worse; the best they could do is be there when he did break down again. 

Nikki sighed, and turned to face the bleachers as Neil stood to the side of them, out of the way. The jock motioned for her quarterbacks to come over so she could make an entrance since the freshmen hadn’t noticed her yet. She hopped up onto their shoulders and they charged in, her standing up tall and laughing as she jumped down to tackle a sophomore to the ground. After picking him up and sitting him down with the JV team from last year, she looked to the smelly freshman boys in front of her. 

“Welcome to football practice, nerds!”

\----

David walked happily down the walk in the city, looking to meet Gwen when her shift ended at the bookstore. The man checked his watch as he walked towards a small city circle that held the building that his friend worked in. He always found it so peaceful there, quaint stores, surrounding a large fountain that was filled with pence and other various coins. Sometimes he would see a street performer on the steps, a hat in front of them and a sign explaining their situation to scrape together enough money for whatever they need. He always would stop to listen to the performance, and drop a few dollars for them. Today seemed like one of those days, as a small group of people had formed a bubble around a part of the fountain. 

 

He heard the sound of clapping as the performer started playing a back track, quickly starting to play along on their violin. David wormed his way through the crowd as he saw the musician dancing on the steps, completely engrossed into the music. The man watched as the violinist stepped gracefully in time to the sound of their violin. He couldn’t catch a glimpse of their appearance, though. They were wearing a long black coat and had a mess of black hair. He wondered why they felt so familiar looking, until the musician, now at the top step, opened his eyes to the small crowd.

David would know those teal, cat-like eyes anywhere. Max seemed not to notice him however, as he just kept playing in total focus. This cued the teacher to look at the sign propped up in an open violin case. 

‘Help homeless teenager not die’

David frowned, that was Neil’s handwriting, not Max’s. He had known them for long enough to tell when one of them wrote something. He looked up at his student just as he stopped playing, not looking at the people as they began to disperse. He took a moment to stretch, before going into the next song. David watched as people tossed loose change into the violin case, a couple of dollars in the mix as well. He smiled, and pulled out his wallet. Fishing through it, he pulled about about 40 dollars, tossing them in and escaping the crowd quickly. Max stole a glance to the audience he had acquired, and he could have sworn he saw David pushing out of the bubble. With a sigh, he continued to play the song, finishing on a rough note. When the crowd had begun to dissipate, he packed up his violin, locking the case and bolted down an alleyway, not noticing the hand that tried to grab him as he ran off.

He had to pay off a debt as fast as possible. He had been behind on his payments to a friend of his for his cigarettes, but they thankfully let it slide due to the situations. Max knocked on a doorway, graffitied over multiple times. The door opened a crack, the man speaking to the teen in a condescending voice.

“Max. Looks like you came through. I think you owe me at least a hundred dollars.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Max said as he pulled out a stack of cash from his coat pocket. “I had to make sure I wouldn’t die first. Shit’s rough.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d have a problem with dying,” The man stated as he counted out the money. 

“I mean, I don’t. But the Neil and Nikki flipped their shit on me earlier, and they are about to put a child leash on me if they can’t keep track of me.”

“Yeah, not like it’s without reason, so you can’t complain. Now scram, go sell some weed to middle schoolers or something.”

“I’m past that.” Max turned around, walking back down the alley.

“Hey, Max.” The guy leaned out of the doorway, looking at the teen with sympathy.

“What.” Max looked back, glaring.

“Stay safe, okay? There’s some weird shit happening around the city lately. If you need a place to duck for the night, let me know. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thanks, Nurf.”

“No problem, pretzel stick. Now get lost.” 

“See you. Tell Chris and Ered I said hi.” 

 

Nurf waved him off, letting Max go on his way. The boy lugged his violin case, rattling with change that had been thrown in, out of the alleyway and towards the apartment building Neil lived in. It was a good 15 avenues away from the square, but he took his time, not wanting to jostle his case too much as he strolled down the streets. He’d have taken the subway to a spot closer, but he didn’t know how much money he had made yet. He decided to try to enjoy his 3 mile walk. And he was, until his thoughts drifted to what had been bothering him lately.

It was bothering him that he missed his parents, people who didn’t deserve to even be referred to as such. They had always been cruel to him, holding him on a pedestal while knocking it down from under him and blaming him while they did. He wished that he had been strong enough as a kid to stand up to them, but it took him until high school to break free from their world. He remembered how his friends reacted when he told them. Nikki and Nurf were ready to kill them; and Harrison was mumbling something about Avada Kedavra as Nerris, Ered, and Neil plotted how best to blow up their house. 

Then they all decided to help him get out of there as soon as possible. His friends all banded together to get him out of there, and thankfully his parents didn’t care about him enough to look for him after the first year. He was going on three pretty soon, three years of not being afraid. Or at least, it should be. He lets them think it is, but they’re older now, they all know better than to believe his half hearted reassurances that it’s fine. All that first summer people made up bs reasons for him to stay nights at their house, but he would rarely let people do it anymore. It made it easier for him to accept his situation. 

He wondered why his parents didn’t try to control him and get him back. He wondered why he never saw posters or them around places he frequented. Maybe they were glad to be rid of him. He would probably have to hire a gang member to get all the documents of his existence from them, assuming they hadn’t burned it. His mind drifted as he walked, trying to figure out what hurt the most; the physical abuse or the fact that they didn’t care enough about him to bat an eye when he disappeared from their grasp.

Or maybe it was the fact that he felt he deserved it all.


	7. Rising Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions are rising. The heat is getting turned up, but how long until the pot boils over?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unnanounced accidental month-long hiatus over. Seriously, sorry about that. 
> 
> Official blog for the fic is smokeandmirrors-cc.tumblr.com I'll be posting extras and musings on there durring downtime. 
> 
> I also got some fanart of Nikki, which is on there. Please check it out!
> 
> Sorry for this short chapter, I wanted to get something out that was still quality.

It was almost 7 when Neil showed up to the building, Max sitting on the ground outside their door. The taller looked slightly concerned and quickly unlocked to door without much of a greeting, then pulled Max inside. When the door was shut, they locked it and sat on the floor in front of the couch. 

“Neil? What the fuck is happening?” Max asked, mostly tired but slightly concerned. Neil looked around, making sure all the lights were off.

“Max, were you followed?” 

“Not that I know of, why? What’s going on?” 

“He was two blocks away, I don’t think he saw me, but he was heading this way.” They finally made eye contact with him. Neil’s expression said all he needed to know. Daniel was back.

Max grabbed his shoulder where his scar was, gripping it tightly. He didn’t get scared easily. He was scared of his parents, and he was scared of other people's parents. But the one time he ever truly got scared by a single event to the point of a breakdown, was when all his friends almost died and he had to take a chance of dying to save them. He was fine with dying, but he didn’t want to see his friends in the afterlife with him, even though he was sure that they wouldn’t go the same place he did.

He was scared of Daniel. There was no avoiding it. He tried to forget it, but the reminder was always there, scarred into his shoulder. He hated feeling so helpless, and watching from the back of his mind as he almost drank to his death with all his friends. The idea of it happening again made him sick. He slumped down on the floor next to his friend, putting his head in his hands. He was going to throw up. 

“What the fuck do we do, Neil? Did Nikki get home okay? Is Nerris, Harrison, Preston, everyone okay!? We gotta text all of them- I’m going to be fucking sick--” Neil grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug as Max began to hyperventilate.

“I’ll worry about them. You need to rest.”

“I should be calling the police-”

“I’ll take care of it. Max, you’re sick. I’ll call and text everyone to make sure they’re okay. You need to rest.”  
Max didn’t have the heart to argue, but curled up to his friend as they pulled out their phone and began making rounds in messages. He tried to relax to the sound of typing on a smartphone keyboard. The flood of responding notifications was starting to give him a headache when Neil shut off their phone. 

“It’ll be alright, Max.” They put their arms around him.

“How can you be so sure?” 

“I just know it will. You need rest, try to relax.” 

Max nodded, but even as he tried to relax enough to get tired, the taste of kool-aid filled his mouth. 

\---- 

“Yes! High score!” 

Nerris jumped up from her seat at the pinball machine, grinning. 

“Fuck yeah, I knew you would!” Nikki smiled at her date, leaning on the machine. Nerris smiled back at her, bouncing slightly on her toes. Nikki wrapped an arm around her, retrieving her point card. “What do you want to do next? Jumbo space invaders? Galaga? Ditch the arcade and wander to the food court?” She honestly had no idea what half of this stuff was, but Nerris did. In fact, the smaller girl grabbed her hand, pulling her across the room. Nikki was going to speak, but soon they were at the opposite wall, in front of four identical machines.

Nerris hopped up onto the platform of the first one, leaving Nikki to read the label on the top. As soon as she saw the words ‘Olympic Games’, she stopped reading and jumped onto the machine. She pushed her card in the machine, glancing over the controls before smiling at her girlfriend. 

“Thought you would like it! Motion activated virtual sports!” Nerris smiled, sliding her card in as well. 

Nikki grinned back. “It’s almost like you know I still play Wii Fit.”

The pair hit the start buttons, pictures flashing on the screen. Nikki’s phone went off as they started to get into it, going unnoticed until they finished, Nerris winning by a landslide due to Nikki’s lack of understanding of how the game worked. She pulled out her phone to check the time, seeing that Neil had texted her. 

‘Keep an eye on Nerris. Something bad is happening.’

The message was vague, but she still glanced around uncomfortably. After a moment she regained her composure, grabbing Nerris’s hand. 

“Hey, it’s getting pretty late. Want to go see what gross fast food is open still? I’d kill for some chicken nuggets.” 

Nerris snuck a look at her phone, unsure. “...Sure. Let’s go.” She grabbed her purse, giving her girlfriend’s hand a squeeze, seeing something was wrong. They headed out of the arcade, Nerris watching the jock quietly for a moment before speaking. “Nikki, it’ll be okay.”

Nikki sighed, trying to hide her unease. “I sure hope so.”

\----

Max sat on Neil’s floor, violin case in front of him and money sorted into various piles. Neil sat nearby, typing away on their laptop. An open pizza box lay between them. Max fished out a number of small bags with various substances in them from his coat. He looked all of them over, before shoving them back in one of the inner pockets. 

“Damnit, I thought I still had some opioids.”

“Max, why are you going through your drug stash?”

“Because I don’t want to be aware when Daniel finds me?” 

“Yeah, that’s not how it’s going to go. We’re going to keep an eye on each other until the police catch every single one of those bastards who think evil comes from space. They’re probably all nazis, too, with all that “purity” shit. So I doubt it’ll be a problem.”

“Neil, he’s killed multiple people. He shouldn’t even be alive right now. Since we sabotaged him all those years ago, he’s probably out there waiting for us to get his revenge. It’s a matter of time before we all get kicked in the ass by this fucker.”

“Yeah, well, until we do, you’re staying here at night.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“It’s not up for debate. You’re going to drive yourself mad with worry out there. You’re staying here and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Max looked at his friend a moment, studying their expression. Finally he sighed. 

“Fine.”

Despite his protests, it was comforting to know Neil cared so much about his safety. Max smiled slightly, finding safety in the thin apartment walls.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! For more on this au, be sure to check me out at lemonclock.tumblr.com or on the Camp Camp Club amino at Nerris the Cute. Special thanks to my girlfriend, yumessketchbook on tumblr, for beta reading this fic and catching my mistakes! I hope you all look forward to the adventures of these nerds!


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